(Not really little. China is massive, both physically and in terms of population.)

I’m not sure how many of you bothered to stay up last night to watch the game live, but I did. So now I get the joy of living in Pacific Time and adjusting myself off of China Time without the rigors of travel!

Except I feel beat up, like I did just fly 16 hours from Beijing, because that game was brutal to watch.

Preseason games are ultimately meaningless. Teams use these exhibitions for a variety of reasons: player evaluation, installation of offensive and defensive systems/schemes, player conditioning, team chemistry, etc.

Having said that, it was a pretty awful performance by the Clippers. As excited as the fan base got when the Chris Paul-less Clippers narrowly lost to what was essentially a full strength Nuggets team (the du jour dark horse contender of the West), this loss was just as disheartening. During viewing, it almost felt like the Clippers had never played with each other before. Either that, or they decided to be overly ambitious and only speak in Mandarin, at which I imagine they’d be terrible.

The Clippers gave up over 47% in 3-point shooting for the second straight game and were never really in a contest that saw Blake Griffin and Eric Bledsoe on the floor for considerable minutes (32 and 41 respectively). Keep an eye on Bledsoe’s minutes going forward. He’s starting to log heavy minutes. And while it should mean he won’t complain about being gassed during the regular season, you’re always anxious about key players logging big minutes in exhibition games.

On the plus side, the Clippers out rebounded their opponent for the second straight game, this time a whopping +18. If they can just get their perimeter defense square, things will look up.

DeAndre Jordan went an appalling 1-10 from the free throw line, but this is one of the outrageous stats I wouldn’t get too hung up about. With Griffin and Jordan both retooling their shooting forms, very likely they are going to have outlier performances, especially in the early outings. For sanity’s sake, I would focus on their month-to-month shooting percentages and just hope that trends upward.

Griffin showed a bit more moxie in this contest than in Las Vegas. But he was still 2-6 on shots outside of 10 feet. He was 3-5 from the free throw line, and appeared a little more comfortable later in the game. But as just mentioned, baby steps.

Willie Green struggled again, going 3-11 from the field. In actuality, he was 1-8 until late in the fourth quarter. By no means was Green thought of as an ace shooter, but he’s certainly better than he’s shown. Some of this shots so far in two games have missed badly and at some point it will affect his confidence and things could snowball.

Grant Hill made his debut in a Clippers uniform and he was noticeably rusty on the offensive end. Not just with his shot, but there were one or two occasions when he passed to no one, expecting a cut or ball swing. Still, Hill’s defense looked solid. He managed to slow down LeBron early when James was simply ripping the Clippers apart.

Matt Barnes didn’t make an appearance until late in the third quarter and, again, he played quite well. Barnes was 2-4 from 3-point land but, more importantly, managed 5 rebounds and a steal in 15 short minutes. He and Bledsoe harried the Heat with their pressure defense and, despite his late acquisition, could play a bigger role than simply third small forward for the Clippers this season.

Finally, another bit of positive outlook: DeAndre Jordan’s comfort on offense was apparent for a second straight game. I’ve already touched on his free throw woes, but the glass half full perspective is that Jordan drew an inordinate amount of fouls.

One of the things I pointed out pre-game was that Miami did not employ a traditional big man. And it was apparent that Jordan had his way when looking at the foul situation for Miami’s bigs: Bosh 5, Harrellson 3, Lewis 4, Gladness 4. Granted, Griffin and the other Clippers aided in piling on the Heat’s foul woes, but Jordan was able to draw 6 fouls on his own. Even if Jordan struggles from the free throw line this year, his ability to draw fouls will pressure the bigs for the opposing team and put the Clippers into the bonus that much sooner. It’s a small silver lining, but we’re still just in the preseason.

I’m afraid this new shooting coach is going to do more harm than good. Duncan and Shaq never really improved on their free throw shooting and they probably had the best coaches available. I guess you could point to Karl Malone, but coaching and youth leagues back then were not the same as they are now.

As much as I talk down about DeAndre, his free throw shooting was progressing towards 60%. To me if he can shoot 60%, it’s a success in that area.

The 1-10, I don’t really care about. It’s preseason and they just flew to China. Probably partied a lot the night before. Should be interesting to see if this shooting coach did anything. I doubt this guy has any secrects that’s going to magically turn them into steve nash at the line.

http://clipperblog Tim

Dumb question alert. This question I’m about to ask could signal that after 2 sub-par performances by Green, that I might be leading to a knee-jerk response, and you’re probably right. But for the sake of asking, since you all know more than I profess to know, my question is, in the absence of Billups, could Caron (much further removed from surgery) start at the 2, and could we promote the efforts of Barnes to the starting line up at the 3? With no desire to upset the applecart (the bench of Bledsoe, Crawford, Hill, LO and Turiaf), and with Green lacking any luster, and with Barnes flying around out there, isn’t Caron serviceable at the 2? I feel more comfortable with Barnes and Butler guarding the perimeter with length over Green or anyone else for that matter. Barnes works the boards a little more willingly that Butler. Just a thought.

Bongstradamus

Bledsoe at 2 is the better bet. Tighter D, better offensive punch, and the ability to beat guys off the dribble when driving. He can pass pretty well too.

Going big means being slower in transition.

http://www.clipperblog.com Andrew Han

I agree with this in a vacuum, but the brief moments of a Crawford-Not Bledsoe backcourt have been horrendous. That means Bledsoe would have to stay with the second unit to help get the offense in motion.

So I guess that puts me in the Barnes-Butler-Hill to start at SG camp. All three seem capable and the other two can split duty at SF.

Neiru

Terrible, terrible game. But it was just the 2nd practice (preseason game). I liked Blake’s jumper and his free throw shooting looked good. It’s a mental thing for him. I think it’s the same for DJ. I like DJ’s assertiveness on offense, but it seems like he may have regressed on dunking. What really worries me is our defense. We still leave people wide open from the 3 point line. Rotations are slow. The guys played with no energy. I imagine they’re probably tired. But you can’t leave guys that you know can hit 3’s wide open. Don’t double if Ray Allen or Battler are going to be left wide open on the corner. Rotate faster. Why are we still having this issue Vinny? The turnovers I attribute to fatigue and just carelessness. That will improve..especially once CP3 is back.

Timmythetooth

How does one regress on dunking? I’d say that 60% of the lob passes that Blake and DJ get are piss poor and they still covert most if them because of how athletic these two are.

joeluis323

Way too many turnovers. The heat made the 3’s when they needed them and that was game. Come sunday it should be a closer game.

Yaroslav Korolev

This was against the champs with there full squad, dont forget we still dont have our best player who is also the best pg in the league. I say dont look to far into this loss.

Benoit Benjamin

We need a better back up point guard. A pure point guard. Bledsoe is not a pure point and so turnover prone.